Climate change bill faces long odds in Senate

Global warming

Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Hearst Washington Bureau

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Photo: John McConnico, AP

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FILE - The July 17, 2007 file photo shows an iceberg floating in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland. Sweeping legislation to curb the pollution linked to global warming and create a new energy-efficient economy is headed to an uncertain future in the Senate after squeaking through the House. The vote was a big win for President Barack Obama, who hailed House passage as a "historic action." "It's a bold and necessary step that holds the promise of creating new industries and millions of new jobs, decreasing our dangerous dependence on foreign oil and strictly limiting the release of pollutants that threaten the health of families and communities and the planet itself," Obama said in a statement on Friday, June 26, 2009. (AP Photo/John McConnico, file) less

FILE - The July 17, 2007 file photo shows an iceberg floating in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland. Sweeping legislation to curb the pollution linked to global warming and create a new energy-efficient ... more

Photo: John McConnico, AP

Climate change bill faces long odds in Senate

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The Senate took up sweeping climate change legislation Tuesday, with four Obama administration officials insisting that the measure is urgently needed to combat global warming, wean the United States off imported oil and revitalize the nation's economy.

Chu joined the heads of the Interior Department, Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency in urging the Senate to advance legislation that would put new limits on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

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The House passed its own climate change bill in June by a close 219-212 vote. California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate panel, and other supporters face daunting odds reproducing that success in the Senate. A Senate bill is likely to be introduced later this month and is expected to mirror much of the House legislation.

Republicans are nearly united in opposition to what they have characterized as a new national tax on energy.

"Once the American public realizes what this legislation will do to their wallets, they will resoundingly reject it," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

The House-passed bill would put progressively tighter limits on carbon dioxide emissions, imposing a 17 percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2020. Under the so-called cap-and-trade plan, businesses could meet the emissions limit by cutting their pollution or buying and trading allowances to spew the pollutants. Companies could also "offset" their emissions by investing in farming and forestry projects that trap carbon dioxide.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats have expressed deep concerns about how the legislation will affect farmers, coal-reliant power utilities and manufacturers in their states.

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said he was concerned about the ramifications for coal. "As a senator from a coal-producing state, that is a factor that I must take into account," Specter said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she wanted to ensure that any new market for trading carbon offsets and allowances is subjected to "proper oversight."

For Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a key issue is finding a way to encourage efforts to glean energy-rich woody material rotting on the floor of public forestland.

Supporters of the bill could try to win support by adding provisions to expand offshore drilling and give a boost to nuclear power.

"There may be some ways there we can bridge some differences," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters Tuesday.

But any changes to the bill to lure votes risk undermining the measure's environmental goals and alienating nuclear energy foes in the Senate.

Environmental activists have been urging the Senate to tighten the House bill by selling more emissions allowances - rather than giving most of them away initially.

Boxer said she hopes to get a measure approved by her Environment and Public Works Committee before the Senate begins a monthlong recess Aug. 7.